KAREN S.

SMITH

Tax Manager
State and Local Tax professional with diverse tax experience including:
Sales & Use Tax • Excise Tax • Property Tax
Individual Income Tax • Systems implementation • State & local tax audits

Professional Experience
LaQuinta Corporation – Irving, Texas 2008- present
Hotel/hospitality company with revenues in excess of $4 billion (privately owned)
Tax Manager
Managed a staff of 3.
Managed a tax reconciliation project for 400 inns.
Negotiated Texas Sales & Use Tax audit which saved $850K.
Recaptured $305K in tax as a result in overpayment of use tax.
Collaborate with Tax Consultant overseeing 40 state & local transaction tax audits.

Sonitrol Corporation - Westlake, Texas 2007- 2008

Privately owned security alarm company with revenues in excess of $150 million
Sr. Tax Accountant
Resolved sales and use tax issues with non-compliance as a result of several mergers.
Monthly filing of 120 multi-jurisdiction sales & use tax returns in 45 states.
Managed a tax systems implementation for sales & use tax utilizing Solomon and Avalara.
Negotiated Minnesota Sales & Use Tax audit which saved $30K.
Prepared state income tax apportionment schedules for 20 states.

Shared Technologies - Coppell, Texas 2006 - 2007

Privately owned telecommunications company with revenues in excess of $250 million.
Tax Contractor
Resolved withholding and unemployment tax issues as a result of a successorship. Registered
the new LLC with multi-states for payroll tax purposes.
Recaptured $20K in Unemployment tax.

Northrop Grumman Corp. - Irving, Texas 2001 – 2006

Aerospace company with revenues in excess of $30 billion.
Tax Accountant IV
Formulated, prepared, and issued multi-state sales tax returns.
Prepared multi-state personal property tax returns.
Collaborated with Auditors for multi-state tax audits.
Recaptured $1.2M in taxes in a reverse audit.
Developed, implemented and conducted training program which reduced errors by 80%.
Developed process for Northrop suppliers to gain resale tax exemption online. Sales tax
exemption certificates were often being issued inappropriately or delayed.
Established Internet capability allowing suppliers to request exemption online.
 Created ability to regularly update PO validation with SAP R/3, ensuring proper controls and
compliance. The end result eliminated A/P manual intervention which would free employees
to do other duties.

ExxonMobil - Dallas, Texas 1998 – 2001

Oil and gas company with revenues in excess of $36 billion.
Tax Analyst
Audited and analyzed sales and inventory transactions to ensure control and accurate
payment of annual excise, sales, and environmental taxes of all U.S. units.
Prepared multi-state sales and use tax returns.
Collaborated with Tax Coordinator on multi-state excise and sales tax audits.
Recouped $50K in sales tax from aged reconciling accounts.

Thomson Reuters – Carrollton, Texas 1996 – 1998

Software company with revenues in excess of $8 billion.
Tax Accountant
Developed and prepared corporate state income tax forms utilizing Tax Management
software (TMS) in DOS and Windows environments.
Edited formulas and diagnostics by testing product in DOS and Windows.
Provided client support.

City of San Antonio – San Antonio, Texas 1991 – 1995

City government (state funded child care program with budget of $24 million).
Accountant
Supervised 4 Account Clerks which processed payments to over 331 vendors utilizing a
manual system.
Reconciled vendor accounts to ensure payments matched with vendor billing.
Resolved issues with vendors that were overpaid/underpaid.

Internal Revenue Service – Austin/San Antonio, Texas 1984 – 1991

US Government - treasury.
Tax Auditor
Audited all areas of individual income tax returns, business/personal.
Researched tax accounts for business and individual income taxpayers utilizing a mainframe
system.
Administered civil fraud penalties on 16 taxpayers as a result of a Tip Income Project
performed on restaurants for un-reported tips. The project resulted in hundreds of thousands
of dollars recouped.

Education
Bachelor of Science – Business Administration
Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ)

Computer Skills
PeopleSoft, COGNOS, Solomon, Avalara, SAP 4.7, Vertex Q Series, CCH, RIA, In-Source

Certification
Preparer Tax Identification Number – provided upon request